Alien Cats Invade Poland

The highly respected Polish Academy of Sciences has declared the domestic cat an “invasive alien species,” citing the cheeky pet’s propensity for murdering birds and small mammals.

Wojciech Solarz, the biologist who entered ‘Felis catus’ into the national database of invasive species, was surprised by the backlash to the listing. (Has he never met a cat person?) He told the Associated Press that criteria for alien invasive species, “are 100% met by the cat.”

Solarz wondered why there were no objections to the other 1,786 invasive species listed, but he believes that the media created the false impression that the academy was calling for cats to be culled. Not so, he maintained. He just wants to raise awareness to the fact that domestic cats have an undeniably harmful impact on biodiversity.

Last week Solarz faced off against Dorota Suminska, author of a book “The Happy Cat,” on independent broadcaster TVN. Suminska pointed out that man-made pollution and buildings were picking off a lot of birds and animals as well. “Ask if man is on the list of non-invasive alien species,” Suminska said, reasonably.

Solarz pointed out that the six million or so cats in Poland are responsible for the deaths of about 630 million mammals and more than 140 million birds.

Okay that’s bad, but why the “alien” designation? The academy notes that cats were domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the Middle East, therefore they are alien to Europe.

“I have a dog, but I don’t have anything against cats,” Solarz said.

Yeah, sure you don’t.

Photo credit: Caters News Agency